Fremantle Spirit’s days of languishing
towards the bottom of Division One are over according to Ljupco Taneski.
Appointed head coach of the port side just under a month ago, Taneski has
been busily assembling a squad with the quality and depth to be
competitive in 2012. “We will definitely surprise a lot of teams this
season, we will not be in the bottom two come seasons’ end,” promised
Taneski, whose coaching background includes spells at Balcatta and
Dianella White Eagles. “I’m hungry for success, as are the president,
committee and players, and I feel we will wake this sleeping giant once
again.”

The challenges Taneski has already faced
would have made some walk away from the job. “The club really is starting
from scratch in terms of the senior set-up,” he explained. “An invitation
was extended to all players from last season but only three came back, and
two of those have already moved on to other clubs. In a way this worked in
my favour as I’ve been given a clean slate, I can choose what players I
want to bring to Fremantle and shape the squad the way I want. I’m looking
to add a few more experienced players to strengthen the team overall.”

Taneski has been pleased with how
Fremantle are progressing towards the season proper. “Considering we have
only trained four times as a squad of 14, I am more than happy with how
things are shaping up,” he said. “We are young, naturally fit and
underestimated by everyone. We have a nice group of players that are
hard-working and like to listen to the coaching staff. The signing of
players like goalkeeper Kenny Ftynogiannis, Chris Beech, Dimce Taneski,
Zoran Vrteski and Diego Garcia will provide the backbone for our young
squad.”

Fremantle kicked off the year last
weekend with a 4-0 loss to Stirling Lions, a result Taneski was “extremely
happy” with. “A lot of people came to the game expecting Stirling to walk
all over us but we proved them wrong by playing some decent football,”
said the coach. “I was proud of the team and I feel we probably deserved a
goal, we did break Stirling down at times. Overall it was a good spirited
performance, we defended fairly well against a side that will be in the
Premier League’s top five this season.”

FREMANTLE “FULL OF POTENTIAL”: ATEKHIS13/01/2012

New Fremantle Spirit president Elhossain
‘Nassa’ Atekhis says putting his hand up for the job was the right thing
to do, both from a personal point of view as well as for the club. Atekhis
kept goal for Fremantle last season and after witnessing their slow
decline from close quarters felt it his duty to help the port side out.
“Knowing the club was struggling, I had to get involved,” he said. “Under
the right management and with a lot of hard work Fremantle is a club full
of potential. I always enjoy a challenge and that’s one of the reasons I
put my hand up to be president.”

Atekhis may have been Fremantle’s
president only a couple of months but it has been long enough for him to
stabilise a club that was on the brink of State League extinction. “The
main priority at the moment is to keep Fremantle afloat and moving
forward,” Atekhis explained. “We need to take things slowly and steadily
so we can develop a good squad which will provide our opponents with a
good challenge. There are plenty of juniors within the club that we want
to be teaching and developing as, ultimately, they are the future of the
Fremantle club.” More..........